


Coming Home

by DesertVixen



Category: A League of Their Own (1992)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 07:18:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17700020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: A widowed Dottie returns to the League...





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ijemanja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ijemanja/gifts).



Dottie Hinson stepped onto the ballfield, and finally felt as if she had come home.

The field was full of women in clothes suitable only for sliding, playing baseball. Throwing, catching, hitting, running.

Last year, she had been one of the hopefuls, a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of people, until she’d had her first encounter with Doris Murphy and Mae Mordabito.

Last year, she’d been the Queen of Diamonds.

Last year, she’d become a war widow. She had gone home, of course…and slowly realized why Kit had stayed in Racine. It had been okay when she had been marking time, waiting for Bob to come home, but when the letter announcing spring training arrived, she couldn’t pack fast enough.

*** 

There were differences, of course. The Peaches’ coach Jimmy Dugan was actually present, not in some alcoholic stupor. His love of the game was clear on his face, and she watched him for a moment. The last time she’d seen him, his face had been full of compassion. He’d shoved the pompous telegram deliveryman out the door, had told her that her husband had been killed.

She had never forgotten that moment.

After a few hours, it was like she had never left. The veteran players were all over the place – Dottie saw Kit pitching – and she was catching for pitchers who were trying out.

She had missed all of this.

*** 

It was time to get on the bus and travel to Rockford with this season’s Peaches – some veterans, like Dottie and Marla, Doris and Mae – and some new girls, who were mostly clustered in the middle of the bus, looking a little lost.

Dottie took what had always been her seat in the front of the bus, and she somehow wasn’t surprised when Jimmy dropped down beside her. 

“It’s good to have you back,” he said quietly. 

“It’s good to be back,” Dottie said, popping the lid off a Coke bottle and tipping it towards him. He shook his head, slumping down in a way that told her he was going to sleep. The man could sleep anywhere.

It was comfortable, sitting beside him. She’d always been aware of his presence, from the moment he’d stopped being an obnoxious drunk and turned into the best coach they could have asked for. 

He was a damn fine looking man, something she had noticed last year. Now, Dottie was definitely aware of it, indulged in the opportunity to study him without him noticing. 

Now, she was thinking about it and wondering if he might be thinking about it. 

It was going to be an interesting season.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like it...it's a little more pre-relationship and tentative, but it seemed to fit.


End file.
